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What God’s Past Works Demand from Us Today | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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From the studio that brings you reformed thinking, this is the
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deep dive. We take the heaviest sources,
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pull them apart and give you the knowledge you need to be well
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informed. This week we are stepping back
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and looking at history not as a random series of events, but as
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direct evidence. That is precisely our context
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today. We're looking at a a really
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crucial section of Jonathan Edwards work on the history of
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redemption. Edwards recounts history from
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the fall of Adam onward. But then he pauses.
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Right, he sort of steps out of the narrative.
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He does. He puts on a different hat.
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He's no longer just the historian.
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He becomes the logician, the apologist, asking OK, we have
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the 6000 year record, what conclusions can we actually draw
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from it? So he's using the data of
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history to build a case. A case for a singular, non
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negotiable point. The truth and divine authority
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of the Christian religion, and you know specifically the
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scriptures upon which it is built.
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I find that whole approach just captivating.
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He isn't arguing from, say, philosophical axioms or just
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internal logic alone. He's taking this huge panorama
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of global events, the wars, the collapses of empires, all of it.
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And he says, look at these facts.
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These are not coincidences, they are testimony.
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Our mission for this deep dive is to synthesize the three core
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historical arguments he presents, arguments that for him
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illustrate why the Church and its governing document, the
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Scriptures, cannot possibly be a human invention.
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That's right, And these three arguments are so powerfully
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linked, he argues that the historical facts prove that the
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church is built on the Word of God.
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Will unpack these facts. OK.
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So what are they? 1st, the constant, really unique
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opposition the churches face throughout history.
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Second, the miraculous preservation of the church
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against all odds Despite that opposition.
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And 3rd, the precise fulfillment of foretold events.
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Especially concerning the greatest enemy of the Church,
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Antichrist. Exactly.
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The narrative structure itself is the evidence.
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Let's start with that first argument, then.
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It seems the most counterintuitive at first
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glance. It does.
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OK, let's unpack this first argument.
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The perpetual violent hatred the Church has experienced
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throughout history, using hatred as evidence of divine truth
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seems, well, it seems backwards, almost like a perverse boast.
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How does Edwards even start to argue this?
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Well, he argues from contraries, and this is, you know, a
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brilliant move that tinges on the nature of holiness and sin.
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Okay. If something is truly holy,
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truly separate, and truly contrary to the fallen state of
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the world, it must attract the malice of that world.
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The world is defined by wickedness and corruption, and
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those forces will naturally rise up to oppose what is righteous
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with an intense malicious fury. So the intensity of the
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opposition is a direct indicator of the holiness of the thing
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being opposed. Precisely the sheer intensity,
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the consistency, and the duration of the opposition is,
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for Edwards, irrefutable proof of the Faith's genuine holiness.
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But for that argument to stand, he has to prove that the thing
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being opposed to church is a single unified entity across
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time. Otherwise it's just a series of
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unrelated conflicts. He must, and he does.
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He takes great care to establish this.
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He views the Church of God as one continuous, single society.
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It stretches from Adam, Enoch and Noah through the patriarch
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Abraham, Moses, the Israelitist church, right up to the
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Christian Church in his present age.
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So when he talks about different dispensations or ages, he's not
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saying the church changes its core beliefs, is he?
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Not at all. The method of administration
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changes, you know, the ceremonial law, the clarity of
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revelation. But the foundation never
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changes. It is always built on divine
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revelations summarized in the Scriptures, with Christ and
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redemption as the sum of it all. So the opposition is always
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against this one singular system of belief.
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Yes, the doctrine of God's sovereignty, righteousness and
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redemption through a promised Messiah, he would say.
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Cain's hatred of able sacrifice was structurally the exact same
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hatred that later heathens directed at Christians who
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refused to worship Roman gods. That continuity is key because
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it establishes the opposition as perpetual, not just sporadic.
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We're talking about a conflict that's as old as humanity
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itself. It began with the very first
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murder, Cain killing Abel. It led to the violence before
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the flood that ultimately overthrew the ancient world.
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Then post flood you see the oppression in Egypt where God's
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people were slaves, and the constant threat from surrounding
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nations. Once Israel entered Canaan.
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Israel was constantly hated, feared and harassed.
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It illustrates that description in Jeremiah 12.9.
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Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird.
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The birds roundabout are against her.
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The idea of a speckled bird, isolated, unique and attracting
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all the Raptors and this hatred, it doesn't just go away, it just
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changes form over the centuries. It continued violently.
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Think of the periods like the persecution after the Babylonian
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Captivity which culminated in the horrific acts of Antiochus
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Epiphanes who tried to forcibly Hellenize the Jewish religion.
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A total erasure of their identity.
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Absolutely. Then came the Jewish persecution
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of Christ and the Apostles, followed by the dreadful empire
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wide heathen opposition before Constantine the Great, and
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finally the yet more violent, spiteful and cruel opposition of
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Antichrist during the medieval period and beyond.
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It is a seamless historical narrative of malice.
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Let's pause on the sheer uniqueness of this.
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You mentioned that Edwards argues no other society or
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religion has been so insatiably persecuted across ages.
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Why is the opposition to this specific religion different
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from, say, the rivalry between Rome and Carthage or any 2
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warring nations? The nature and the cause of the
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opposition. I mean, look at other religions.
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They often coexisted. When they clashed it was usually
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for political or territorial reasons, not because of the
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intrinsic nature of their theology.
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OK, that's a good point. The Romans were generally quite
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tolerant of local deities as long as you rendered homage to
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the imperial cult. But Christianity, and before it
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the religion of Israel, demanded exclusivity and holiness that
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inherently challenged the established spiritual and moral
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order of every single surrounding society.
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So the hatred isn't geographical or political, it's moral at its
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root. It's entirely mortal, and
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Edwards observes this in the cruelty.
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He says the opponents would put their ingenuity upon the rack to
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invent torments. That would be cruel enough.
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The rack, the cross boiling in oil, and yet their thirst for
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blood was never satisfied. That goes beyond simple
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punishment. It's pathological malice.
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This level of sustained, insatiable hatred suggests a
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source that is itself perpetual and fundamentally opposed to
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righteousness. And Edwards uses the identity of
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the persecutors to confirm this. He says the opposition came
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chiefly from heathenism and popery, and the common
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denominator in both is deep moral corruption.
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Exactly. Even critics of Christianity,
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like the Deists of Edwards Time, would have to concede that Pagan
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religions involved obscene rights and widespread idol
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worship, which were acts of wickedness.
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They weren't exactly bastions of virtue.
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Not at all. And similarly, when the
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opposition came from the Jewish leaders in Christ time, Edwards
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sites contemporary historians like Josephus to show that the
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Jewish nation was at that point, generally steeped in moral
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decay. The opposition to Christ didn't
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come from the most righteous elements of Judaism.
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It came from the most corrupt political and religious
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factions. The conclusion, then, is that
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the opposition is always rooted in the world's wickedness.
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It is inescapable. The world's corruption has a
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mortal spiritual hatred for this one specific religion.
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Therefore, the only rational explanation is that this
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religion, built on the scriptures, is contrary to
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wickedness. It's holy and it is truly the
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cause of God. Because if it were just another
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lie. If the Scriptures were merely a
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pack of lies and abominable delusion invented by enemies of
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God, then the actual enemies of God, the wicked, the corrupt,
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the idolatrous, would have no reason to oppose it so fiercely
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and perpetual. And embrace it or ignore it.
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Exactly, they would either use it as a tool of control or just
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ignore it as another competing philosophy.
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The fact that the entire force of human malice is a rate
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against it is, for Edwards, historical confirmation of its
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divine, transcendent nature. That sets the stage perfectly
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for the second point. Yeah, If the world has hated it
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for 6000 years, why on earth is it still here?
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Moving to that second argument, the fact that this constantly
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assaulted religion has been upheld through all these dangers
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for nearly 6000 years, This is the miracle part of the history.
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And Edwards calls the survival of the Church one of the
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greatest wonders and miracles to ever occur, something truly
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singular on the face of the earth.
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He establishes this by drawing a stark, powerful contrast between
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the fate of human kingdoms and the fate of the Church.
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Right. I mean, look at the historical
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record he would have been reviewing the Moabites, the
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Ammonites, the mighty Assyrian and Babylonian empires, Persia,
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Greece, Rome. All overthrown, every single
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one. Babylon fell to the Persians,
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Persia to the Greeks, the Greek Empire to the Romans, and the
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great Roman Empire. The longest lasting political
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structure of the ancient W It finally fell consumed by
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barbarous nations. They're all gone.
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All gone, Edwards emphasizes. Isaiah 51.6 The moth has eaten
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them up like a garment, and the worm has eaten them like wool,
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but God's church remains. And here's the key difference.
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Satan's visible Kingdom, that is the dominant world power
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structure opposing God, has been overthrown entirely at least
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once by the Flood. The visible Kingdom of Christ
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has never been successfully overthrown.
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What makes this preservation so remarkable is that massive
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imbalance of strength. Edwards really stresses that the
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church was almost always the weaker party.
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Absolutely. The Church was, for most of its
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history, just a remnant, a handful of people, right?
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Think of the Children of Israel in Egypt.
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They were a tribal group of slaves facing the greatest
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superpower of the time in Christ time.
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The early Christians were a small cult opposed by the entire
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Jewish hierarchy and the might of the Roman Empire.
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And later during the darkest times under Antichrist.
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The true Church was reduced to a small hidden number, often
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geographically dispersed and intellectually isolated.
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And yet their enemies, despite their overwhelming power, could
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never annihilate them. And the enemies consistently
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held the ultimate tool of control, civil authority.
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The law was on their side. This is a crucial distinction.
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In almost every period of extreme persecution, Edward
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sites, the civil law, and the military were on the side of the
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persecutors. The church members in Egypt were
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merely slaves under Pharaoh's complete dominion.
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There was no recourse. None.
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In the time of the Roman emperors all legal and military
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power was arrayed against the Christians, and for that vast
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period of papal ascendancy the civil authorities, the kings and
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emperors of Christendom, had given their strength and power
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to the beast. All secular enforcement was
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against the persecuted Protestants.
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And to compound that imbalance, Edwards notes that the
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persecuted church often did not rely on self-defense.
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They adopted A suffering posture.
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Right. Purely Christians and many under
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popish persecution committed themselves wholly to God rather
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than mounting some kind of military or political
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resistance. So this removes any possibility
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of attributing their survival to human strategy or military
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might. It does.
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Edwards concludes that it is most plain that the Church has
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not been upheld by its own strength, wisdom or policy.
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This is why the Church's survival becomes evidence a
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higher power. This brings us to what you
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called the brink of ruin point. Edwards singles out those
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historical moments when, by all human calculation, the church
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should have failed. But God appeared dramatically,
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making the intervention undeniable.
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Yes, let's look at those. Where do we start?
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We begin with the most famous early example, the flood.
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Wickedness had covered the earth to such an extent that God
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determined to wipe out the world.
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By every measure, the covenant people should have become
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extinct. It was over.
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It should have been. Yet God preserved one family,
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Noah, and thereby preserved the seed of the Church while
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overthrowing the entire wicked world.
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This sets the pattern global destruction, singular
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preservation. And then the Red Sea.
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They were physically cornered. Mountains, the sea, and
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Pharaoh's entire army closing in.
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Pharaoh thought he was sure of his prey.
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And this is where Edward sees sovereign timing.
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God waits until the moment of maximum human helplessness, the
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literal point of no return, and then he intervenes.
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He destroys the Egyptian host and delivers the Church.
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Human strength was useless. The deliverance was purely
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miraculous. OK, let's skip forward to the
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Roman Empire. The 10th heathen persecution
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under Emperor Diocletian was particularly brutal, wasn't it?
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It was deliberately designed to obliterate Christianity from the
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face of the earth. The persecution was so thorough
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and so prolonged, it lasted over 10 years that the persecutors
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actually boasted they had finished the Christian Church.
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They really thought they had won.
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They minted coins and erected monuments celebrating the
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extinction of the Christian name.
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But what happened? In the midst of their triumph?
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The Christian Church rose out of the dust, prevailed completely,
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and the vast heathen Roman Empire itself collapsed, falling
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before the very religion it tried to extinguish.
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It's an incredible reversal, and this pattern of resurrection is
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repeated during the Aryan Heresy.
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Yes, which threatened to corrupt the fundamental doctrine of
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Christ's deity, and it reduced the true Church to a small
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orthodox remnant. The power of the world,
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including emperors like Constantius, was engaged to
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destroy them. But it failed.
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Arianism was gradually overcome and the true faith reasserted
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itself, and Edward sees the exact same pattern during the
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rise of Antichrist, when the Church was forced into the
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wilderness and reduced to scattered believers.
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The combined political and ecclesiastical power of Rome
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could never fully accomplish its design of total extirpation.
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This leads to the Reformation, which Edwards describes as the
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church being wonderfully revived and standing, as it were on its
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feet in the sight of his enemies.
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This revival wasn't a slow historical drift.
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It was a sudden, dramatic appearance of truth and power
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that raised the Church completely out of the enemy's
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reach. Edwards would point to the fact
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that the Reformation occurred simultaneously in multiple
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places, catalyzed by key individuals, all while facing
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these overwhelming military and political threats.
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And Edwards brings this right up to his own time with a crucial
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example for the English speaking world, the Revolution by King
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William in 1688. Why is that specific, relatively
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recent political event so significant to him?
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For Edwards, the 1688 Revolution was the last major instance of
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God appearing for deliverance against a concerted Popish plot
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to overthrow the Reformed Church in England and by extension,
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Europe. King James the Second, a
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Catholic, was actively trying to re establish Catholicism as the
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dominant religion. There's another one of those
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existential threats. A huge one.
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The successful bloodless invasion by William of Orange, a
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Protestant, and his subsequent ascendancy to the throne
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prevented what Edwards viewed as the final political attempt by
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the forces of Antichrist to extinguish the Reformation in
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its critical stronghold. It was a visible, last minute
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sovereign intervention that secured the religious and
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political liberty the church needed to flourish.
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So this entire sustained protected existence lasting 6
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millennia, with God repeatedly causing the Church to flourish
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after the darkest times, This is evidence of a divine hand, an
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institution that is statistically impossible to
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survive, yet does must have an external transcendent protector.
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And if God owns the Church, then he owns the Revelation, the
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Scriptures on which she is built.
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The long historical narrative of preservation, which defies all
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laws of political and military attrition, is Edward's second
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great argument for the authority of the Word.
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Now we come to the third and maybe the most detailed piece of
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evidence, the fulfillment of Scripture prophecy.
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We've established preservation as a historical miracle.
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Now we examine it as a predicted event.
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That is the crucial link. It ties the 1st 2 arguments
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together. The opposition makes
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preservation impossible, and the prediction of that impossibility
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confirms the divine inspiration of the text.
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Yes, the fact of survival is itself a fulfilled prophecy.
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Edwards argues that the divine authority of the Scriptures can
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be established merely by the fact that the biblical writers
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foretold this unlikely preservation hundreds, even
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thousands of years in advance. They didn't just say the church
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will be fine. They foretold that opposing
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kingdoms would fail, that the moth and worm would eat them up,
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but that God's covenant mercy would continue forever.
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Yes, and these are not vague assurances.
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Edwards draws on powerful, specific prophetic declarations.
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Isaiah 54.17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall
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prosper, and Christ's own assurance in the New Testament
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on this rock will I build my church, and the gates of hell
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shall not prevail against it. They knew the opposition was
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coming. They knew the church would face
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overwhelming opposition and be almost swallowed up, and yet
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they promised its survival. Edwards asks.
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You know, how could they possibly foresee such an
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unlikely thing unless they spoke by divine inspiration?
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If the church were just a human project, its long term survival
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against those odds was a historical and statistical
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impossibility. So the writers, by predicting
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the impossible, proved their source was divine.
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And now we move to the centerpiece of this argument,
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and where Edward spends an enormous amount of time this
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specific detailed fulfillment concerning Antichrist for
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Edwards, following the strong historical interpretation
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popular during the Reformation, this points directly and
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irrevocably to the papal system, the Church of Rome in its
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temporal and spiritual claims. We should probably acknowledge
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that this interpretation is a historical 1 rooted in the 16th,
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18th century Protestant understanding of prophecy,
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what's known as historicism. Yes, absolutely.
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That's the lens he is using. So let's look closely at the
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road map that Edwards argues the scriptures laid out for this
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great opponent. The specificity is just
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astonishing. We start with the manner of
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arrival. It was foretold not as an
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external Pagan power, but as a falling away of the Christian
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Church into a corrupt state. That's from 2 Thessalonians 2.3.
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So. An enemy from within.
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An internal enemy, this historically mirrors the
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centuries of gradual moral and doctrinal decline within the
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Western Church before the final emergence of the full papal
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system. And the prophecies specify the
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seat and claim he would set himself up in the temple or
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visible Church of God, pretending to divine power as
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the head of the church. This is critical.
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It clarifies that this figure is not a secular emperor outside
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the Church, but a pseudo spiritual power residing within
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the visible church structure, claiming prerogatives that
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belong only to Christ. And the emergence was prophesied
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to be gradual. It was already working.
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Suddenly the mystery of iniquity doth already work, and would
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only emerge fully once the restraining force was taken out
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of the. Way and the common
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interpretation at the time was that this restraining power was
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the secular Roman Empire. Once the power of the emperors
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was removed from the West, the Bishop of Rome was free to
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gradually accumulate temporal and spiritual power over
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centuries. Which binds perfectly with the
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gradual historical development of papal authority.
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It does. Then we have the clear political
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identity given in Daniel. Antichrist was represented as a
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little horn rising out of the fourth beast, which signifies a
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monarch of the Roman Empire. And the fourth beast is
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universally identified as the Roman Empire.
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Right. The Horn represents A successor
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Kingdom that emerges from the fragmentation of that empire.
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Historically, the Papal States and the immense influence of the
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Pope emerged directly from the chaos of the collapsing Western
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Roman Empire, asserting dominance over the various
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Germanic successor kingdoms. And then perhaps the most
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geographically striking detail, the location the seat of this
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spiritual horror was prophesied to be on 7 mountains or hills.
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That's Revelation 17.9. And it was called the great city
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which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
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At the time Revelation was written, there is 0 ambiguity
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there. None.
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The only city universally known as the City on Seven Hills that
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reigneth over the kings of the earth was Rome.
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The prophecy fixed the location of the spiritual power centuries
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before it ever reached its scenic.
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What about its influence? The extent of dominion was also
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specified. It would reign over peoples and
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multitudes and nations and tongues.
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And all the world should wonder after the beast.
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For over 1000 years, from the collapse of Rome until the
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Reformation, the papal power exercised sweeping spiritual,
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political and cultural influence across all of Western Europe,
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commanding the obedience of Princess and peasants alike.
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The history matches the prophecy.
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OK, now for the character traits.
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Let's look at the first one. Pride and blasphemy.
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He was foretold to exalt himself above all that is called God.
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And speaking great things in blasphemies.
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Edward saw this fulfilled in the specific titles and claims of
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the papacy, such as claims of papal supremacy, infallibility,
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the ability to release souls from purgatory, the right to
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forgive sins. These are, in the Protestant
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view, of prerogatives belonging solely to God.
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For a man to assert these claims is structurally a form of
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blasphemy. The second trait, which ties
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back to your first argument, is persecution, described as an
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exceeding cruel persecutor making war with the Saints.
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And causing the woman to be drunken with the blood of the
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Saints. The historical evidence of the
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Inquisition, the wholesale slaughter of groups like the
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Waldenses and Albigenses, and the religious wars fought
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against Protestants. The confirmation is just
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overwhelming. The scale of the persecution,
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the bloodshed over centuries is why they found that image of
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being drunken with blood so apartment.
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It's a horrifying image, but they saw it as historically
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accurate. Then there's the third trait,
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craft and policy. Daniel describes the little horn
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as having eyes like the eyes of a man.
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What does that signify? Political wisdom, complex
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policy, not just brute military force.
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This speaks to the nature of the Roman Curia and the diplomacy of
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the Papal State. It was often through clever
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political alliances, maneuvering and strategic policy, the eyes
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of a man that the papacy maintained its power.
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And it was foretold that kings would support this power.
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Control over kings. The kings of Christendom would
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give their power and strength unto the beast.
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This refers to the historical reality where European monarchs,
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through belief or necessity, submitted their political power
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to the Pope. They enforced papal decrees,
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they fought papal wars, and they feared the interdict the.
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Power to essentially excommunicate an entire Kingdom.
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Yes, which often led to rebellion among the populace.
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It was an incredible tool of control.
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What about the deceptive aspects?
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Yeah, lying wonders, performing pretended miracles and signs.
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Edwards looks at the phrase Maketh fire come down from
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heaven. And he suggests this may not
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refer to literal fire, but to the practice of excommunication.
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Excommunication, the banishment from the visible church and the
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pronouncement of divine judgment, was dreaded.
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Like literal fire from heaven, in the medieval mind it was a
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spiritual terror wielded to enforce obedience.
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The prophecies are so detailed they even touch on internal
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church regulations, the doctrinal deviations.
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First Timothy 4.3 foretold the forbidding of marriage and
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commanding abstinence for meats. This is maybe one of the most
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literal and verifiable fulfillments the mandatory
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celibacy of the priesthood enforced by papal decree, and
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the strict rules about Lenten and other periodic abstinence
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from certain foods. They are direct historical and
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ongoing deviations that match the prophecy exactly.
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We also see predictions about splendor and wealth, that the
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spiritual horror would be arrayed in purple and scarlet,
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decked with gold and precious stones.
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This opulence, the ceremonial garments, the massive
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cathedrals, the accumulated treasures, it stands in stark
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contrast to the humble origins of Christ and the Apostles.
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And then economic control. It was foretold that no man
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might buy or sell without his mark.
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This speaks to the socio economic coercion.
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Without being in good standing with the Church, without the
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mark of submission, a person could be ostracized, lose their
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livelihood, would and effectively be unable to
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participate in normal economic life within those strongly
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Catholic societies. And most damningly, Revelation
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mentions the specific items being traded, and it
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specifically lists the selling of the souls of men.
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This is a direct reference to the historical practice of
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selling indulgences. By purchasing an indulgence,
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people believed they were securing forgiveness for sins or
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reducing the time souls spent in purgatory.
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Edward saw this as literally trading the spiritual standing
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of human souls for money, making the souls of men a commodity.
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Which fulfills that horrifying detail of the prophecy.
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Perfectly and finally, that terrifying detail about not
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suffering the bodies of God's people to be put in graves.
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What does that refer to? This came to pass regarding
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those the papacy deemed heretics.
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The bodies of prominent reformers or martyrs were
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sometimes denied burial and consecrated ground, or even
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disinterred and burned as a final act of malice.
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The sheer cumulative weight of all these specific details, the
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location on Seven Hills, the doctrine of forbidding marriage,
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the opulence, the economic control, the cruelty, this is
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what Edwards uses to construct his argument.
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He sees it as unassailable. The only possible source for a
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text that could predict this many distinct, controversial and
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interwoven historical facts stretching over centuries has to
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be divine inspiration. The prophecy is vindicated by
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history, and history confirms the Scriptures.
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So we've established the historical necessity of
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opposition, the divine guarantee of preservation, and the
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specific confirmation of prophecy.
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Now what does Edward say this all means for the individual
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believer? He turns this vast historical
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view into a vital lesson on the necessary Christian disposition.
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Yes, this is the application. The history we have reviewed,
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6000 years defined by persecution and suffering,
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reveals a crucial lesson about the nature of true faith.
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Seeing that God has so often ordered the church to be in a
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suffering state, even an extreme 1 proves that the true Christian
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spirit must be a suffering spirit.
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A suffering spirit. God accommodates the historical
26:16
state of the Church to the spiritual disposition He gives
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her members. This shifts the focus from just
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intellectual ascent to internal resolve.
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Christ's instruction to his disciples about self denial and
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taking up the cross wasn't just, you know, abstract spiritual
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advice. It was preparation for the
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documented violent reality of historical opposition.
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And the historical evidence from the martyrs shows this spirit in
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action. They face the absolute worst
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dreadful torments, loss of family, destruction of property.
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Yet they chose those torments over renouncing Christ.
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They understood the true calculus of faith, choosing to
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sell all for the Pearl of great price.
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And Edwards uses this history to hold a mirror up to his
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contemporary audience and to us. He does.
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The history confirms the necessity of having a spirit
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willing to renounce worldly ease, worldly prophet, honor,
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and even 1's whole existence for Christ in the gospel.
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And this is where he offers a crucial challenge to the
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listener. OK, he applies that powerful
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question from Jeremiah 12.5. If that has to run with the
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footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how can thou contend
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with horses? Let's break that down.
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Who are the footmen and who are the horses in this context?
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The footmen are the relatively lighter common trials of
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Providence in a time of peace and religious liberty, like
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Edward's time, or largely our own OK.
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They are the minor inconveniences, the small
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sacrifices, the social pressures, the conflicts with
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nominal Christians, or the financial difficulties that
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every believer faces. If these footmen wear you out,
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if these small trials cause you to stumble or complain, then you
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lack the spiritual strength to face the horses.
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And the horses are the great terrible trials, the life or
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death, persecutions of former ages, the rack, the fire, the
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threat of total ruin for believing.
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Exactly, if we cannot endure the light challenges now, how could
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we possibly handle the terrible persecutions faced by the
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martyrs? So Edward's message is that the
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spirit of the true believer is historically unified.
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Yes, every true believer has the potential spirit of a martyr.
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The heart of the Christian must possess A willingness to suffer
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as a martyr, even if Providence never calls them to actual
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martyrdom. If your faith crumbles under the
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pressure of a footman, the history of the Church
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demonstrates that your faith is not the same quality as the
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faith that God has supernaturally preserved through
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6 millennia. It makes our current spiritual
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posture directly accountable to the historical record of
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faithfulness. Absolutely.
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The historical knowledge prevents the command to take up
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the cross from becoming a spiritual abstraction.
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It becomes a practical test. Does your heart truly value
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Christ above comfort, property, and life?
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The martyrs answered yes, and their history demands the same
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answer from us. Finally, we have to look
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forward. The historical faithfulness of
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God regarding the past provides an ironclad assurance for the
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future. It does.
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The Scriptures foretell many great things yet to be fulfilled
29:06
before the world ends. The massive conversions of the
29:09
Gentiles, the glorious state of the Church, the final judgement.
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These future events may seem difficult or far off, even
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impossible from our current vantage point.
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Just like the prophecy of a small church surviving the Roman
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Empire, one seemed impossible. Exactly, yet we see the
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consistent faithfulness of God to His promises.
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Edwards encourages us to quote Joshua 23.14 concerning what God
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has done so far for His church. That not one thing have failed
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of all that the Lord our God hath spoken concerning His
29:39
Church, all things have come to pass agreeable to the divine
29:43
prediction. So this history should
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strengthen our faith in the remaining promises.
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It should stir us up to earnest, persistent prayer to God for the
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accomplishment of the great and glorious things which yet
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remain. The same reliable divine hand
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that protected the Church at the Red Sea, saved it from the
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heathen emperors, and delivered it at the Reformation, is
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guiding the conclusion of history.
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We should trust the promised outcome.
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This has been a necessary, historically grounded deep dive
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into Edward's 3 proofs for the truth of Christianity.
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The three arguments are so structurally linked they
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consistent opposition from the world confirms the holiness of
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the faith. The miraculous preservation
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through 6 millennia confirms God's sovereign protection, and
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the detailed fulfilled prophecies, especially
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concerning the specific features of Antichrist, confirm the
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divine origin of the Scriptures themselves.
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And the most crucial insight we gain from Edwards is that this
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historical knowledge fuels our spiritual posture.
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The knowledge of the documented opposition makes the call to
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take up the cross a practical test of 1's disposition.
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We must constantly check if we possess that suffering spirit
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necessary to follow Christ wherever the historical work of
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redemption leads us. We have seen how incredibly
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specific past prophecies were, details on location, wealth,
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specific doctrines like forbidding marriage, and
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economic activity like selling souls.
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So, considering the remaining prophetic visions regarding the
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final glorious state of the Church when nations will be
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brought under the banner of Christ, and knowing how literal
31:13
the past fulfillments were, we have to ask a final question.
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How might the world's current political, economic, and social
31:19
structures need to shift to accommodate a fulfillment as
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literal and detailed as the rise and description of Antichrist?
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This history is not yet finished, and its conclusion
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requires our faith, our reflection, and our earnest
31:32
prayer.